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(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the world's No.2 handset maker, expects to sell 25 million smartphone handsets this year, exceeding its earlier target, and aims to double shipments next year, according to a media report on Friday.

JK Shin, head of Samsung's Mobile Communications division, told reporters at the IFA trade show in Berlin that its 2010 smartphone sales would be far higher than its original target of 18 million units, thanks to the popularity of its Android-based Galaxy S model, news provider EDaily said.

The report also cited Shin as saying the company had targeted sales of 50 million units for next year.

A Samsung spokesperson in Berlin was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Chris Lewis)

The Scandal: Indecent exposure. Brittany let it all hang out at a concert and then made it public not knowing her mike was still on. Lindsay has flashed onlookers a number of times in cars and clubs. Pee Wee made a XXX theater in Florida his personal "playhouse."

The Lesson: Undergarments are our friends, and graceful car exits aren’t a bad idea, either. And there’s nothing wrong with a little personal playtime, but it’s best to play where you won’t get interrupted by the wrong person.

3. The Players: Carrie Prejean and Ted Haggard

The Scandal: Hypocrisy. Prejean played the innocent card all the way to the Miss USA pageant, and Haggard played it to a congregation of massive proportions. Both turned out to be far from the personas they pedaled. A sex tape and nude photos of Prejean were discovered soon after the pageant, and Haggard’s drug use and sexual relations with a male prostitute ultimately came to light.

he Lesson: Practice what you preach. The truth has a sneaky way of coming to light. So be careful that what you say and what you do match up, especially when it comes to sex. No one likes to be made a fool.

The Lesson: There’s nothing wrong with taping your sexual play. In fact, many couples find it a real turn on. Problem is, those pesky tapes always have a way of showing up in all the wrong places. My advice? Tape it. Watch it. Destroy it. It’s a pattern you can repeat whenever you like and never worry about seeing your exploits replayed on YouTube.

Note: The same goes for nude photos — like the ones revealed of Vanessa Hudgens. Just know that, if they’re out there, they’ll be discovered.

5. The Player: Hugh Grant

The Scandal: Engaging a prostitute

The Lesson: Prostitution is illegal. If you want to pay to play, Nevada is your only option in the United States. Hugh should have considered heading back to Europe for this escapade…

6. The Players: George Michael

The Scandal: Engaging in (or at least seeking) public sex

The Lesson: If you do it in public, you’re bound to be caught. Noticing a pattern here.

The Lesson: Don’t do it. Our sexual partners trust us with their bodies. Betraying someone by not sharing important health information is beyond bad taste. It’s downright criminal.

These are just the tip of the iceberg, of course. There are many, many more scandals that have been exposed and even more lessons to be learned from them. But, when you break it down, the rules are pretty simple. If you want to play without risk, be honest, obtain consent, and keep it private. And if you want to live on the edge, just know that even celebrities fall off, which leaves little hope for us mere mortals…

July's increase from June in the National Assn. of Realtors' gauge for previously owned residences follows two straight months of declines and a report that sales of such homes dived 27.2%

By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times

September 2, 2010|9:31 p.m.

An index of home purchase contracts for previously owned dwellings unexpectedly increased 5.2% in July over June, the National Assn. of Realtors said Thursday, a modest note of good news for the U.S. housing market.

The pickup in contracts, which typically take about one or two months to convert into closed deals, or sales, follows two consecutive months of declines and a report last week that sales of previously owned homes plunged 27.2% in July.

"The news isn't terrible," said Michael D. Larson, an interest rate and housing analyst for Weiss Research. "But it's not great either, especially when you consider that mortgage rates are the lowest in recorded history."

"We should be seeing more sales with financing so cheap," Larson said. "The fact we're not speaks to the severity of the jobs crisis and the ongoing lack of confidence in the future direction of home prices."

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Assn. of Realtors, which produces the pending home sales index, cautioned that the housing market probably would remain weak without the $8,000 federal tax credit for buyers that expired April 30.

"Home sales will remain soft in the months ahead, but improved affordability conditions should help with a recovery," Yun said.

A forward-looking indicator based on the number of purchase contracts signed, the index rose to 79.4, up from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June. That level remains 19.1% below that in July 2009, when it was 98.1.

An index reading of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year the group began tracking the data as well as the first of five straight years of increases for sales of previously owned homes.

The pending home sales index was up 11.6% in the West in July from the prior month, 1.2% in the South, 4.1% in the Midwest and 6.3% in the Northeast.

Home builder stocks rose after the report, with the Standard & Poor's index of 12 major builders increasing 2% after rising 3.6% on Wednesday. Los Angeles-based KB Home closed at $11.66, up 21 cents, or 1.8%.

North Korea is preparing its biggest political gathering in 30 years, drawing parallels with the 1980 summit that ensured Kim Jong Il’s succession amid speculation he will transfer power to his youngest son.

Delegates from the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea held meetings in the past week ahead of the congress to pledge loyalty to Kim, according to reports published by the official Korean Central News Agency. Troops and tanks have been deployed near Pyongyang to plan military parades to mark the party gathering, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Aug. 24.

Kim, 68, last week made his second trip this year to China in what analysts said was an effort to win the endorsement of his closest ally for a power transfer to his son, Kim Jong Un. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lauded the congress as “a political event of great significance,” KCNA reported yesterday.

“The fact that Kim has visited China twice this year and so shortly before the meeting indicates that he has sought support for his upcoming decisions,” said Rudiger Frank, professor of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna. “These will have to do with succession, both directly and indirectly, as this is the most pressing issue for North Korean domestic politics at the moment.”

Kim signaled to Chinese President Hu Jintao during his trip that he is willing to resume six-party talks to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, China’s state-run Xinhua News agency reported this week. The forum, which also includes Japan, the U.S., Russia and South Korea, hasn’t met since December 2008.

Mystery Son

Little is known outside North Korea about Kim Jong Un, who may be in his late 20’s. KCNA has never mentioned the son by name and China didn’t say whether he accompanied his father during the most recent visit as speculated by South Korean media.

North Korea said on June 26 that a party congress would convene in early September to elect “its highest leading body,” without specifying dates. The meeting will be held on Sept. 4-7, Good Friends, a Seoul-based rights group, which claims to have sources in the communist country, said on its website this week.

The congress may be aimed at “the reorganization of its leadership structure,” according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Kim cemented his position as successor to his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, in the 1980 meeting, getting elected to key party posts.

‘Military Power’

Kim has built North Korea into “a socialist military power which no enemy dares provoke,” Myong Son Yong, secretary of the party’s Pyongyang City Committee said at a Aug. 28 meeting, according to KCNA. Military representatives to the party pledged “undisputed trust in him and transparent loyalty to him,” KCNA reported on Aug. 27.

Speculation of a power transfer comes as North Korea becomes increasingly dependent on China to improve its faltering economy, a key element of its goal to become a “strong and prosperous country” by 2012. North Korea’s economy shrank 0.9 percent to 24.7 trillion won ($21 billion) in 2009, with trading falling 11 percent, after the United Nations toughened sanctions against the country for its second nuclear test in May last year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

China, host of the six-party nuclear talks, is also spearheading efforts to lure South Korea and the U.S. back to engaging North Korea, sending its special envoy for the Korea peninsula affairs,Wu Dawei, to the countries. South Korea, backed by the U.S., refused to resume the disarmament negotiations after it accused North Korea of torpedoing one of its warships in March, which killed 46 sailors.

Six-Party Talks

“China is most concerned about maintaining a measure of control over North Korea and thus the future possibilities for the Korean peninsula,” said William Callahan, professor of international politics at the University of Manchester. “Pushing for the reconvening of the six-party talks is part of China’s quest for a loose control over regional politics.”

Improving economic difficulties is essential for Kim to ensure an orderly handover of leadership, said Frank at the University of Vienna.

“The various sanctions by the West, however justified they might be, come at a strategically bad time: they leave North Korea even fewer options and drive it further into the arms of the Chinese,” he said.